Improvement in boots and shoes



z sheets -sheet 11 W. B. RICE. BOOTS AND SHOES.

N 170,016, -Patnted Now 16,1875.

N PETERS. FNOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D. C-

ZSheets-SheetZ. W. B. RICE.

BOOTS AND SHOES. No. 170,016. Patented 110v. 16, 1875.

N-PETERS,'PHOYO-LITHOGRAPHHL WASHINGTON, D C.

'rlt'rns PATENT -FrIo5r;,

WILLIAM B. RICE, OF QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPRO VEMENT lN BOOTS ANDSHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 170,016, dated November 16, 1875; application filed September 27, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM B. RICE, ot' Quincy, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which-- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section, representing the toe-tip or projecting portion formed in one and the same, piece with the inside tap-sole, and having an upper-edge finish. Fig. 3 is a vertical section, with the tip or projecting. portion having an upper-edge finish, but formed in one and the same piece with the outer sole. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a sole detached, having its toe tip or protector struck up in one and the same piece therewith, in readiness to receive an upper-edge finish. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a shoe in which no upper-edge finish is given the tip or projecting portion, formed in one and the same piece with a sole outside the upper, the upper-edge finish of the shoe being at the base of thetip, or between the tip and the sole. Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the center of a portion of a shoe of the class described in Fig. 5.

My present invention relates particularly to an improvement in boots and shoes forming the subject-matter of Letters Patent No. 114,340, granted to'William F. Prusha and Elisha L. Wales, May 2, 1871, and of the reissue No. 6,421 therefor, granted May 4, 1875.

In the manufacture of shoes, as set forth in said Letters Patent, the tip or projection employed for protecting the toe portion of the upper-leather was not provided with an upper-edge finish, and was so applied as to rest upon the upper-edge or Scotch-edge finish of the shoe, or above the crease at the bottom of the tip of shoes as heretofore made, the upperedge finish being below, or at the base of the toe-tip, giving the shoe an appearance as though the tip did not form any part of the sole or soles outside the upper.

My present invention consists in giving an upper-edge finish to a toe-tip or projection struck up in one and the same piece with any sole outside the upper, and without reducing the strength or body of the sole; and also consists in so constructing the shoe that the upper-edge finish of such toe tip or protector shall form an uninterrupted or continuousportion of the upper-edge or Scotch-edge finish of such sole, whereby the upper-edge finish of the sole is carried over the top of the tip, instead of below or at its base, as heretofore, thus adding to the strength and stylish appearance of the shoe, besides simplifying its construction, and consequently reducing its cost.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the said drawings, A represents the sole of a shoe. This sole is formed of a piece of leather cut to the proper shape, but of an enlarged size, and compressed, when wet, in a suitable die, by which means the enlargement is pressed back, thickening upthe tip of the sole, and causing it to assume the form more clearly shown in Fig. .4, a projection or tip, a, (serving as a protector for the toe of the upper,) being struck up or molded at the time the sole is compressed and shaped.

The upper edge of my improved tip is not tapered off to or near a point, as in shoes constructed as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 in which the portion of the sole forming the tip is skived down, so as to leave it of less thickness than the sole; but the tip constructed in accordance with my invention has its top flattened or squared off, so as to present, when completed, an appearance known as an upperedge finish, b. The tip thus provided withan upper-edge finish, b, may be formed or struck up in one and the same piece with the outer sole, or in one and the same piece with a-tap-solethat is to say, any sole outside the upper-leather and the upper-edge finish or Scotch-edge finish c of a shoe-that is, the entire finish of the upper portion of the sole or soles projecting around the exterior of the upper-is carried up or extended over the upper-edge finish of the tip so formed, the latter (the tip) forming an unbroken oruninterrupted portion of a smooth continuous upper edge, 0, of the sole or soles beneath or outside the upper, without any reduction of the thickness of the sole.

What I" claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A toe-tip or projection having an upperedge finish, b, and thickened and formed in one and the same piece with a sole outside the upper of a boot 01' shoe, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A boot or shoe so constructed that the upper-edge finish 0 of the sole and the upperedge finish b of its toe-tip, struck up as described, shall form one and the same continuous or unbroken upper edge or surface, 0, substantially as specified.

'Witness my hand this 20th day of September, A. D. 1875.

WILLIAM B. RICE.

In presence of- N. W. STEARNS, W. J. CAMBRIDGE. 

